Film Score Friday 2/22/02
By Scott Bettencourt
In case you missed yesterday's column, Film Score Monthly has announced
its latest two CD releases, both from the MGM/Turner library, and they
are none too shabby. Jerry Goldsmith's LOGAN'S
RUN will be heard in its complete form for the first time, with
improved sound and extra music not heard in the theatrical release. Our
Golden Age release is Miklos Rozsa's LUST
FOR LIFE, a lyrical and emotional work from the late master, complete
with alternate takes.
Some other label came out with some discs too. What were
they again? Oh yeah, I remember. Frankly these aren't too shabby either.
Varese Sarabande has announced
their latest three CD Club releases, and they are a delectable trio of
curvaceous beauties, each ripe and ready for the taking.
I apologize for that last paragraph. Anyway, the most popular of these
(order it now, as it is likely to fly off the shelf with the speed of a
towering inferno) is Michael Kamen's score to the original DIE HARD,
appearing for the first time as a legitimate CD release and totaling a
whopping seventy six minutes.
Kamen's score, the third of ten feature collaborations with action producer
Joel Silver (not counting Kamen's aborted scores for Fair Game and
Assassins),
is one of his finest works, expertly mixing thunderous action cues with
witty interpolations of songs such as "Winter Wonderland" and "Singin'
in the Rain." Back in 1988 I had the great pleasure of visiting one of
the scoring sessions and got to hear a live performance of "Assault on
the Tower," possibly the score's highlight.
If the cue titles listed on the Varese website are any indication, the
CD will not feature Kamen's rejected music for the film's epilogue,
which was replaced in the final version by tracked-in cues from John Scott's
Man
on Fire and James Horner's Aliens (coincidentally, both released
on CD by Varese), one of the most conspicuous examples of temp track cues
showing up in a theatrical release.
The other new Varese Club releases are LOVE IS A MANY-SPLENDORED
THING (over 60 min.), one of only two Alfred Newman works to win the
Original Score Oscar (his other seven awards were for Music Adaptation),
and a double header of two Alex North scores for William Faulkner adaptations.
THE
LONG HOT SUMMER expands on the original LP release, while SANCTUARY
has never been released before in any form. Together they total 77 minutes,
the longest Varese CD ever. These welcome releases are for the discerning
film music collector who doesn't instantly think of "What, me worry?" when
he hears the name Alfred Newman.
Varese has delayed the its new Masters Film Music Club CD releases until
April, with no hints as to what the first disc will be. I'd tell you what
I'm hoping it will be, but I wouldn't want you to think I have any inside
information, because I honestly don't.
Okay, here's a hint as to what I'm hoping for. Think "A Hitler tailor-made
for the nineteen eighties." But expanded.
Billy Goldenberg on Broadway
In her new stage piece "Bea Arthur on Brodway: Just Between Friends,"
the former star of Maude and The Golden Girls will be accompanied
on the piano by film composer Billy Goldenberg. The show is running at
the Booth Theater in New York through March 10th. Unfortunately, Ms. Arthur
is unlikely to perform "Love Theme From Duel."
V: The Final Encore
"Mostly Cole," featuring the Joe Harnell Quartet with singer Lisa Bowman,
will be performed on February 23 at 8 p.m, at the Shannon Theater at Whittier
College, at 6760 Painter Ave. in Whittier, CA. For more information, try
this link.
The Lalo Life
From: Chuck Bender <bacondeliverd@earthlink.net>
For those of you in the San Francisco Bay Area, the San
Jose Cinequest has become a fine venue for tributes to film composers (Elmer
Bernstein... etc.). This year Cinequest 12 is presenting a tribute to Lalo
Schifrin, complete with screenings of his style setting scores for "Bullitt,"
"Cool Hand Luke" and "Dirty Harry." Also, an added bonus will be a rare
screening of the classic Academy Award winning 35mm insect documentary,
"The Hellstrom Chronicle."
Schfrin's tribute is a four day event, starting on February 27th
and ending on March 2nd and he will be in attendance for the viewing of
"Cool Hand Luke."
For those interested, here's a link
to Cinequest's page on Schifrin, where tickets can be bought as well as
links to the other events surrounding Cinequest 12.
New in Theaters This Week
Dragonfly - score by John Debney; album due on Varese Sarabande
on March 19th.
Queen of the Damned - music by Richard Gibbs and Jonathan Davis;
song album available on Warner Records, including some written by Gibbs
and Davis.
One Note to Bring Them All
From: "Billy Martin" <billymartin@cox.net>
Referring to Tuesday's letter, the instrument that plays
the melody [in "Concerning Hobbits" from Lord of the Rings] is a recorder.
The first pickup note of the melody is a D, as the cue is in the key of
D major.
A Newman is Good to Find
From: Dimitri.Ntatsos@asu.edu
I didn't know if this was ever mentioned, but Thomas Newman
composed the main titles for the hit show "Boston Public." As far as I
know, it has not been released on CD as of yet. However, the following
web
site has a clip of just Newman's music (it's really cool!!) in wav
& realplayer format. Newman wrote some great stuff (even though it's
only a minute long), but the clip is definitely worth downloading!
Recent Columns
If you've missed my columns from recent weeks, let me sum them up for
you:
Me me me, blah blah blah, Oscar Oscar Oscar, A.I. yay!, Moulin
Rouge yecch.
Did I leave out anything?
The Music of John Room
We have concluded our latest poll, "Who is your favorite composer from
the Hans Zimmer stable?", and the results are in.
Out of 311 votes, Mark Mancina received the highest score with 72 (23.2%)
just barely squeaking past John Powell (71 votes, 22.8%) and Trevor Rabin
(69 votes, 22.8%), and partisans are already clamoring for a recount. (I'm
sorry. I hope that's the last political joke I ever make here.)
Harry Gregson-Williams follows with 58 votes (18.6%), and virtually
tied for last are Klaus Badelt (21 votes, 6.8%) and Nick Glennie-Smith
(20 votes, 6.4%). In defense of Glennie-Smith and Badelt, they've had far
fewer scores out there to judge and were thus at a distinct disadvantage.
I must also apologize for leaving Gavin Greenaway, Jeff Rona, and Heitor
Pereira out of the poll. It was an unintentional oversight.
From: Miguel Angel Perez Perez <Mapperez@ua.es>
I'm 38 now, which I suppose means I'm not a child any more,
having a more or less cultivated mind but also, I must add, a team of plastic
surgeons who have done real wonders on me. Consequently I think I'm credited
enough to say that I do not understand or appreciate either Horner's or
Zimmer's contribution to film music. Good pun with "Zimmer's stable", by
the way. So you needn't justify your opinions, they are just as good as
everybody else's.
For once, the pun was unintentional. Does "zimmer" mean "stable" in German?
I thought it meant "room."
Please forgive me as I interrupt this final letter repeatedly
to discuss its points. I will attempt to be civil, but when I am finished
we may step outside and the slapping will begin.
From: nalton@bellatlantic.net
As someone who has closely watched Zimmer develop into
the vastly diversified film composer that he IS today, I always get a chuckle
from the amateurs-that-pretend-to-be-experts fan gallery that continually
finds fault w/Zimmer. When he first came out with trend-setting scores
in the late-80s w/ Rain Man, Black Rain, Pacific Heights, etc - you clowns
thought his newly adapted synthesizer electronic music was cool but flashy.
The generalizations in this first part are bringing back my migraines.
I am admittedly an amateur but I do not pretend to be an expert. What,
sir, are your qualifications? If your name is in fact Jerry Goldsmith,
I apologize. If you're a different Jerry Goldsmith, then the apology is
rescinded.
Some of us may be amateurs, but I'd hazard a guess that it's the professional
composers and trained musicologists who are most critical of Zimmer.
And who are the "you clowns?" that you refer to? Those who shun all
Zimmer? Those (like me) who do not consider themselves Zimmer fans but
still buy all his CDs? Those (like Jeff Bond) who are critical of much
of Zimmer's work but are fans of some of his scores, like Gladiator?
Or just everyone who doesnít rate Zimmer as highly as you do?
By the way, the term "clowns" is derogatory. We prefer to be called
"circus comedians."
And yet let's look at the fact that nearly 10-12 years
later. Zimmer has the following distinguishable trademarks in the filmscore
industry:
** perhaps THE most imitated (though never equaled) composer
in the biz...I always hear people say "that's a poor man's Zimmer imitation".
That may be true. Yet filmmakers often imitate the style of music videos.
That doesn't mean it's good. I also find the term "poor man's Zimmer" to
be redundant.
** Has the Pick of A level films to choose from. And what
he personally cannot do...he generously distributes to his renowned stable
of Zimmer-ites, including Rabin, Powell, Glennie-Smith, Rona and Gregson-Williams,
to name a few. Why in just the past two years, Zimmer has ONLY composed:
Hannibal, Gladiator, Pearl Harbor & Black Hawk Down. And yet, he occasionally
likes to do smaller films, such as The Pledge & Everlasting Piece.
You left out Riding in Cars With Boys. But then, pretty much all
of America left out Riding in Cars With Boys.
** Aside from his getting FIRST choice at Top studio films,
A-list Directors aggressively covet him. Yes, he is Producer Bruckheimer's
guy (who used to like Faltermeyer & Moroder years ago)...and yes, Tony
& Ridley Scott now use him pretty much exclusively (Spy Game notwithstanding...and
even there, Zimmer passed it over to Gregson-Williams but did assist -
CAN'T you tell?).
"A-List Director" does not necessarily mean great director. Chris Columbus
is one example. Michael Bay. Penny Marshall. I could go on. And what
do you know, they've all worked with Zimmer.
Also, even very talented directors are not always the wisest in their
choice of composers. Is anyone clamoring for a CD of "The Dave Grusin/Sydney
Pollack Collaboration?"
**Zimmer DARES to try new things....does Not want to be
pigeonholed into what the amateurs-that-pretend-to-be-experts think - but
then they REALLY have no clue. For these same so-called "experts" think
James Horner is revolutionary in spite of the fact that he continuously
regurgitates his music again and again and again...
True, Zimmer does try new things. And so do John Williams, Howard Shore,
Carter Burwell, Thomas Newman, Elliot Goldenthal, Danny Elfman, James Newton
Howard, Don Davis, and other composers too numerous to list here.
Also, normally "we clowns" are given flack for panning Zimmer AND Horner.
Now the trouble is that we pan Zimmer and like Horner? Damn it, we
can't win! And when was the last time anyone called Horner "revolutionary,"
outside of the Horner family kitchen?
** The creme da la creme is this (and you need NO further
proof) to know that Zimmer is THE King
Your use of "creme de la creme" is unusual to say the least. Some
might even argue that you appear not to understand what the phrase means.
I suspect you may have meant "piece de la resistance"
** Presently he is the HIGHEST paid film composer in the
business, having surpassed James Horner a few years back when he did Titanic
(his demands after that score are STILL legendary. )
Ah. So Zimmer is the best composer because he makes the most money? (That's
assuming he does make the most money, which you've only stated, not proven).
Imagine a Hans Zimmer score for a Sylvester Stallone film! It must be the
greatest movie of all time!
Zimmer is also renowned for being shrewd by taking a respectable
back-end take on some of his films, which is STILL virtually unheard of
from 99% of film composers.
Now I understand. It's Zimmer's financial acumen that makes him the best
composer. Of course, he probably needs a higher fee to accommodate all
his credited collaborators.
** While other top-paid film composers include John Williams
(mostly thru affiliation with Spielberg), Morricone, Horner, Goldsmith
(sinking down the ladder) and my other personal favorite, James Newton
Howard.
Of course, where would Williams be without Spielberg? Merely the composer
of those obscure flops The Towering Inferno and Superman.
And a few films with the words "Home Alone" and "Star Wars" in the title.
In the end, let's face it...Zimmer's impact on the filmscore
industry is 2nd to none...without question. Heck, most of the Up 'n coming
guys in the business even have a Zimmer-like sound to them. Guys like Revell,
Powell, Rabin.
This makes sense, since Powell and Rabin are both Zimmer proteges. Children
often resemble their parents. It's one of the reasons people have children.
Other oldtimers try to incorporate his "style"...David
& Thomas Newman, Mark Isham, John Debney, Trevor Jones, etc.
I've never noticed Thomas Newman imitating Zimmer's style, and would be
curious to learn some examples. Newman seems to do pretty well with his
own style. Hans Zimmer seems to be a very nice man, but as a composer he
isn't fit to polish Thomas Newman's baton.
So do the RIGHT thing....and give the KING his due...And
remember all you so-called experts criticizing Zimmer - Imitation is the
FINEST form of flattery. Remember that Next time you hear a score piece
that you secretly like and say to yourself, "that sounds like Hans".
Don't worry. If I hear anything that sounds like Hans Zimmer and
I like it, I'll definitely keep it a secret. Sound advice.
Thanks...I'm out....and God Bless the Finest Nation on
this Earth, the United States of America. If not for the USA, we quite
possibly couldn't take the liberty of having this free & open forum
for discussion!
I'm afraid your last-minute expressions of patriotism are too late. NORAD
has already begun launching missiles at your location. I recommend you
duck and cover beneath your copy of Radio Flyer.
For those interested in the connection between boxoffice success and
composer employability, look for my upcoming multipart article on the most
forty most in-demand composers in Hollywood. And yes, Mr. Zimmer is high
on the list. Duh! But that still doesn't make him the KING.
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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